Chocolate Cake with Warm Butter Sauce is the ultimate indulgence!
I had a birthday this week. If that day was any indication of the year to come, it’s about to be the year of butter.
I ate so much butter that day it was alarming. Butter on lefse, butter on pasta, butter on butter, and butter on cake. I posted this recipe for butter sauce early in my blogging days, so there’s a chance it slipped past your sights. I figured it was time to give it a proper showing with updated pictures and let you know that despite my best attempts at a whole foods lifestyle I still dive into this saucy treat once every three years or so. Turns out it’s still hard to photograph wet cake but it’s easy as pie to eat.
I mostly wanted to have this Chocolate Cake with Warm Butter Sauce for my birthday because I was missing my dad. Every day there is some small thing that reminds me of him, especially holidays. This was one of our favorite cakes to enjoy together. The recipe came from his mom, and was a birthday staple in my youth.
The combination of cake and butter sauce is both decadent and awful in that it will ruin all other cakes for you. It’s easy and fancy while still being messy and old school. I’ve updated the recipe for the cake itself to make a slightly drier (although I wouldn’t call it altogether dry), denser cake. This makes it ideal for soaking up lots of that luscious sauce.
I kept the cake in tact for a nice pretty picture, but I’ll be honest with you. When I eat this I pretty much cut a piece of cake and then destroy it. Cut it in fourths or slice it in half horizontally and spread it out so every last crumb is soaking up sauce. The cake is really just a vehicle for the sauce.
The cake was also an old recipe of my grandma’s. It called to be baked in three 8 inch cake pans, which I did. If you want to throw it in a 9×13 I’m sure you would survive, you’ll just have to adjust the baking time and keep an eye on it. I do like how low the cake is when baked in three pans. It means less cutting and more soaking when it comes to dousing it in sauce.
Speaking of butter sauce, you want to bring it just shy of boiling. I like it super hot, but if it boils you’ll end up with a bit of a separated mess. You only want to pour the sauce on a serving at a time or you’ll have to eat the entire cake. Any leftover sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.
How many times can I say sauce in one post? Not enough. Sauce. Get it?? Not enough sauce. Sauce.
If you make this recipe, be sure to rate it, leave a comment, or tag #theliveinkitchen on Instagram!
Chocolate Cake with Warm Butter Sauce
Ingredients
Chocolate cake:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup vegetable shortening
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk, (I placed 1 tablespoon white vinegar in a measuring cup and filled it to 1 cup with milk, then let sit for a few minutes)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup boiling water
Butter sauce:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup evaporated milk
- ½ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat three 8 inch cake pans with shortening and dust with flour. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add the eggs.
- Add vanilla extract to the milk. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the flour alternately with the milk, pulsing the mixer to avoid ingredients splashing out. You will start with flour and end with flour, adding flour four times and milk three times. Add the boiling water all at once and pulse until combined.
- Divide the batter between the three pans, smooth it out, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Move to a cooling rack to cool.
- To make the butter sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and melt, stirring, over medium heat. Heat until hot but not boiling. Pour the hot sauce over slices of chocolate cake and serve.
Mary @ The Kitchen Paper says
I think I need this sauce in a thermos ASAP — it looks good enough to drink alone! Happy birthday, and AMEN to the year of butter! I can’t wait to see what it brings! xo
Julie is HostessAtHeart says
LOL!
Lindsay Moe says
That’s the way to do it!
Christie - Food Done Light says
Oh my gosh! I would be licking the plate when I was done eating that gorgeous cake and sauce.
Lindsay Moe says
I have definitely done that Christie!
liz | carpé season says
So glad you posted this recipe after seeing the words “butter sauce” and “cake” together several times on your social media last week. “butter sauce” – it haunts me in a good way.
Happy Belated Birthday!
(That nephew of yours show up yet?)
Lindsay Moe says
I figured I had a responsibility to let the world in on the secret! And no nephew yet! He is really making us wait.
Jeff the Chef says
The chocolate is so dark, and … butter sauce? Wow!
DessertForTwo says
aww, happy birthday, first! I hope it was a great one.
I think this recipe might ruin all other cakes for me. And I like that!
Sing it with me: what the world needs now, is butter, sweet butter!
XO
Lindsay Moe says
Thanks Christina!
Julie is HostessAtHeart says
The year of butter? I could definitely celebrate this. I hope you had a great birthday! This cake looks decadent.
Lindsay Moe says
Thanks Julie!
Elizabeth Morgan says
I grew up in the midwest in a small town. Our cafeteria consisted of aunts and drandmothers making homeade recipes to feed us at lunch. This cake is one of my best memories at lunch. I realize we were children back then and were being given the best. I cant wait to make this for my grandchildren, this is a great winter recipe.!
Janette says
I believe this is the same butter sauce my mother and grandmother used to make. Better than frosting and good on white, yellow and spice cake too. So good served warm ,
Lindsay Moe says
It’s so fun to hear from others who grew up with it! I can’t believe I’ve never tried it on other types of cake!!